Chelsea - QPR pre-match handshake suspended

Mr.Crinklewood

The Premier League has issued this statement ahead of the game against Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers.

"The Premier League position on the pre-match handshake convention remains consistent. In all normal circumstances it must be observed.
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"However, after discussions with both Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers about the potential and specific legal context in relation to John Terry and Anton Ferdinand the decision has been taken to suspend the handshake convention for Sunday's match."

The statement is in relation to the previous fixture between the two where Chelsea defender John Terry was alleged to have racially abused QPR's Anton Ferdinand.

And following Liverpool striker Luis Suarez refusal to shake Manchester United's Patrice Evra's hand in the pre-match build-up to their clash earlier on in the season after the former was banned for eight-games for racially abusing the latter, the Premier League have decided to act now.

Shaking hands is a common tradition before kick-off in football but this special dispensation has followed comments made earlier in the week by QPR boss Mark Hughes, when he said his players would fully support Ferdinand.

And after John Terry's dismissal in the Champions League semi-final this week, he has been given a reprieve by the Premier League which would see him avoid confrontation with the QPR starting-line up.

Source:- http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/04/26/3063085/breaking-news-premier-league-suspend-pre-match-handshake-between-?

GavRedKing

Handshakes are pointless anyway.

Get on with the game is what I say.

monkey9

This now should be the end of the handshakes!! Ridiculous nonsense! They mean nothing!!! The only time handshakes mean anything if at all is at the end of games!!

Ebbs

Am I the only one who likes them?

Always liked the tunnel idea at the end of rugby, and similarly when a team wins a cup you'll see the losers shake hands as they make their way to the podium/steps.

monkey9

Ebbs wrote: »

Am I the only one who likes them?

Always liked the tunnel idea at the end of rugby, and similarly when a team wins a cup you'll see the losers shake hands as they make their way to the podium/steps.

I agree with you on that. But the handshakes beforehand?? What's that all about?? They should be concentrating on the game before them, not fulfilling some Premier league fallacy!

ShamoBuc

Handshakes and not having them are simply causing problems, get rid of them completely, problem solved.

Jimmy Iovine

Keep the handshakes for international matches where a president is brought out to meet the teams and they are lined up. No need for them in the club matches.

El Weirdo

Mr.Crinklewood wrote: »

Shaking hands is a common tradition before kick-off in football...

Bollocks!

There was football before the Premier League, you know.

Who writes this crap?

ollaetta

El Weirdo wrote: »

Bollocks!

There was football before the Premier League, you know.

Who writes this crap?

Don't think it was even there at the start of the PL not that it matters. Not sure when it started but it's a load of toss and should be done away with.

El Weirdo

ollaetta wrote: »

Don't think it was even there at the start of the PL not that it matters. Not sure when it started but it's a load of toss and should be done away with.

You're right, it wasn't. Started sometime around the mid '00s, iirc. 2004/5?

Yeah, load of old namby-pamby ****. Get rid, sharpish.

Warper

Ya get rid of the sporting gesture that is a pre-match handshake to suit the likes of John Terry. What players should stop doing is kicking the ball out of play when someone goes down - it has gotten farcical at this stage.

El Weirdo

Warper wrote: »

Ya get rid of the sporting gesture that is a pre-match handshake to suit the likes of John Terry.

Well it isn't really to suit John Terry.

As I understood it, Anton Ferdinand took legal advice this week to see if shaking hands with Terry would prejudice the court case one way or another.

chelseavera

I honestly cant see why people interpret this as a decision made to favour John Terry. Its clearly (imo) favouring players like Tevez, Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy and Anton ferdinand who feel they can pick and choose whos hand they shake. Either insist all do it (and yellow card those that dont), or abandon the whole charade.Period. I, like many above, think its a nonsense anyway.

If you don't want to shake hands with someone you shouldn't have to.

Pointless exercise.

bullpost

An empty bourgeois gesture as someone once called it.

J Cheever Loophole

I'll go against the grain on this thread - apologies rarnes, but I'm choosing your post to quote as I feel it essentially captures the sentiment of those looking to get rid of the pre-match handshake.

rarnes1 wrote: »

If you don't want to shake hands with someone you shouldn't have to. Pointless exercise.

These footballers are very highly paid professionals, and their names and faces are on our TV screens, newspapers and magazines every day of every week. These footballers are adored by millions and millions of impressionable youngsters, who want to copy their every move. That's why these people are paid enormous sums, on top of their very high wages, to endorse a wide range of consumer products, and why you will see in every street of every town / city, kids wearing a variety of football shirts with the names of these players on their backs.

That is the context, and it is why the FA has its Respect Campaign. The pre-match handshake ceremony is in keeping with the principles of that - respect for one's opponent, and hopefully if kids see their heroes do it, then it will help instill in them some of those principles.

That is why I personally think it is sad to see this suspended. Bear in mind that this suspension has arisen as a result of an allegation of racist abuse by one player against a fellow professional. Good behaviour and leading by example?

I think we see enough examples of bad behaviour from these role models from kick off until the final whistle, not to mention their private lives which are splashed across the front pages. Is it too much to ask them to take part in a simple hand shaking ceremony that sets a good example?